KARACHI: Coronavirus cases are once more on the rise in Pakistan, with the weekly positivity average in Karachi, the country’s largest city, crossing 10 percent as per data compiled by the provincial government on Sunday.
In late March, Pakistan disbanded the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), which was overseeing the COVID-19 response in the country, as infection numbers were at the lowest since the start of the outbreak early in 2020.
Now once again COVID-19 infections are increasing in Pakistan, with 125 new infections reported on average each day. That’s 2 percent of the peak — the highest daily average reported on January 30.
There have been 1,532,153 infections and 30,383 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
The South Asian country reported 171 positive COVID-19 cases on Monday, with a 1.53 percent positivity ratio, up from 0.82 percent on March 31.
In Karachi, a spokesperson for the Sindh government said 28 people tested positive out of 354 tested on June 12, recording a positivity of 8.19 percent, which climbed to 13.64 percent as of June 18. Overall, the weekly average in Karachi was 10.62 percent.
The country had on March 16 lifted most restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19. Pakistan has faced four infections waves in the last two years, which were effectively managed by the NCOC.
“With Covid indicators at all-time lows and high levels of vaccination, (the) baton (is) now being passed on to the health ministry,” then planning minister and NCOC chief Asad Umar had said when the coronavirus response center was disbanded.
Pakistan has administered at least 258,680,119 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs two doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 59.7 percent of the country’s population.